Omicron has many tricks up its sleeve. Researchers are beginning to expose its secrets.
In November, a new coronavirus variant took the world by storm. Omicron has since caused an unprecedented wave of infections, striking about 90 million people in just 10 weeks. That’s more COVID-19 cases than were recorded in all of 2020.
“It’s a very interesting variant,” says virologist Shan-Lu Liu, who codirects the Viruses and Emerging Pathogens Program at The Ohio State University in Columbus. “I call it weird.”Researchers in Botswana and South Africa were the first to unveil omicron’s genetic makeup. Their analysis revealed more than 60 mutations, including 42 changes alone in omicron’s spike protein — the knobby structure on the surface of the virus that initiates a cell break-in and can help evade antibody defenses.
In past studies, researchers, including Acharya, have pinpointed how certain mutations have given previous variants a leg up. For instance, some Many antibodies that prevent the virus from entering cells target those fingers. But omicron keeps its knuckles bent, That electric charge complements ACE2’s negative charge, creating an electrostatic force that attracts the two proteins like a static-charged balloon to a wall, even over relatively long distances, the researchers propose in their preliminary report. Omicron’s electrostatic attraction to ACE2 is
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